British banking giant HSBC said it planned to open up 1,000 new jobs in its business process outsourcing (BPO) facility to bring to full operating capacity its second global services hub in Quezon City in the next 12-18 months.

HSBC country manager Mark Watkinson also said the bank was ?quietly optimistic? on the Philippines, seeing the economy could churn out a growth rate of three to four percent in 2009 despite the global economic downturn.

?While it?s not as exciting as seven percent??a growth rate that the Philippines exceeded last year for the first time in three decades??when you?re looking at a huge global recession and you?re looking at a range of three to four percent, I think that?s a great achievement,? Watkinson said.

?I think the Philippines is in pretty good position to weather the storm and it?s a storm that we haven?t seen in our lifetime,? he said.

He said there were robust growth opportunities in the BPO sector, a fast-growing foreign exchange-generating industry in the country, but not within the next three to six months.

?Many companies are trying to put out the fire. Many companies are under a lot of stress and you need a lot of stability when you?re taking on an outsourcing project because you need to have your processes cleaned up and you need to move the processes to another site such as the Philippines, and that takes time,? he said.

He said the opportunity for growth in the sector would likely be evident in the second half of next year.

HSBC now has two BPO hubs in the country with about 5,500 people. The first site in suburban Alabang town employs 3,500 and is now operating at full capacity. The second site, near the University of the Philippines (UP) campus, employs close to 2,000.

?So, we?ll probably have additional 1,000 in the UP side. Over the next 12 to 18 months, we?re looking to fill that up, which would then take us to full capacity,? he said.

The two BPO hubs both serve the US and UK markets.

HSBC is also looking at other BPO opportunities apart from voice or call centers, where the Philippines is known to be very good at, Watkinson said.

He cited HSBC?s success in outsourcing some publishing operations, such as the preparation of presentations globally, at the Alabang site.

?From a tax perspective it?s becoming more attractive to invest in the Philippines than other markets,? he said.

On the economic front, he said global markets would continue to face extraordinary stress next year particularly in the first two quarters. During that period, he said corporate refinancing may be tight.

?After the first half I?m keeping my fingers crossed that things will improve. I don?t expect a big improvement in the first half. My sense is that a lot of markets are talking about a 2010 recovery, so 2009 is a case of ... doing the best you can to get through very tough markets,? he said.

In the case of the Philippines, he said overseas Filipinos would likely pump in more money although the growth rate of remittances may not be as fast as this year.

For instance, he said overseas Mexicans were concentrated in the US market and in the construction sector.

?So if the US takes a downturn, construction takes a downturn, so Mexicans are hit. But when you look at the Philippines? eight to nine million OFWs [overseas Filipino workers], they are much more geographically spread and there are a significant number of OFWs in fairly resilient sectors such as healthcare,? he said. With editing by INQUIRER.net